International Herald Tribune Editorial - A Guantánamo exit strategy
International Herald Tribune Editorial - A Guantánamo exit strategy
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 3, 2007
The 5-year-old military prison at Guantánamo Bay, with its indefinite detention rules, lack of judicial review and insufficiently regulated interrogation techniques, is an ugly stain on America's tradition of respect for the rule of law and an endless propaganda bonanza for the country's enemies. Yet it is clear that despite the good advice of friendly foreign leaders, members of Congress and even his own cabinet, President George W. Bush has no intention of closing the facility unless Congress forces him to do so.
This week, Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, introduced legislation aimed at doing just that. Her bill would shut down the prison and transfer the 385 or so people still held there to more conventional, and accountable, detention facilities, either for trial in the United States or repatriation to their home countries, with assurances that they would not be tortured or otherwise mistreated.
Feinstein's initiative is long overdue. It deserves passage by a bipartisan, veto-proof majority.
Previous congressional efforts on Guantánamo, like the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, only made matters worse by limiting judicial review and retrospectively legalizing lawless executive branch behavior. By contrast, the Feinstein bill strikes at the heart of the problem. It would begin moving most of the detainees back into the time-tested procedures of the normal American legal system.
Many of those held at Guantánamo may not be dangerous terrorists at all, but people scooped up on the battlefields of Afghanistan and elsewhere to be sorted out later. Most have been jailed ever since.
The only way to determine who should continue to be held and who should not is through genuine trials, not dubious military commission proceedings, which produce implausibly wide-ranging confessions or plea deals.
It is hard to see how such results serve justice or the urgent need to identify and root out currently operating terrorist cells.
Copyright by The International Herald Tribune
Published: May 3, 2007
The 5-year-old military prison at Guantánamo Bay, with its indefinite detention rules, lack of judicial review and insufficiently regulated interrogation techniques, is an ugly stain on America's tradition of respect for the rule of law and an endless propaganda bonanza for the country's enemies. Yet it is clear that despite the good advice of friendly foreign leaders, members of Congress and even his own cabinet, President George W. Bush has no intention of closing the facility unless Congress forces him to do so.
This week, Senator Dianne Feinstein, a California Democrat, introduced legislation aimed at doing just that. Her bill would shut down the prison and transfer the 385 or so people still held there to more conventional, and accountable, detention facilities, either for trial in the United States or repatriation to their home countries, with assurances that they would not be tortured or otherwise mistreated.
Feinstein's initiative is long overdue. It deserves passage by a bipartisan, veto-proof majority.
Previous congressional efforts on Guantánamo, like the Detainee Treatment Act of 2005 and the Military Commissions Act of 2006, only made matters worse by limiting judicial review and retrospectively legalizing lawless executive branch behavior. By contrast, the Feinstein bill strikes at the heart of the problem. It would begin moving most of the detainees back into the time-tested procedures of the normal American legal system.
Many of those held at Guantánamo may not be dangerous terrorists at all, but people scooped up on the battlefields of Afghanistan and elsewhere to be sorted out later. Most have been jailed ever since.
The only way to determine who should continue to be held and who should not is through genuine trials, not dubious military commission proceedings, which produce implausibly wide-ranging confessions or plea deals.
It is hard to see how such results serve justice or the urgent need to identify and root out currently operating terrorist cells.
posted by Carlos T Mock at 7:26 AM
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